The
markup session for HR1317 (Now HR3097), led by Congressman Tom Davis, is
rescheduled (for the third time!!) for this coming Wednesday, September 28. Davis’
office refused to add anything with regard to protection for NS whistleblowers;
they are not willing to give us a hearing before the House Government Reform
Committee prior to the markup; and they will not issue an official statement
stating that the upcoming bill does not apply to NS whistleblowers and does not
provide protected disclosure for our whistleblowers.

We
tried our best to work with Chairman Davis and his staff; we have written them
many letters, e-mails, and have called them numerous times; these attempts on
our part during the past 5-6 months are well-documented. However, they seem to
be determined to oppose any meaningful protection for whistleblowers, and to
leave us abandoned as far as legislation is concerned.

The
question is: what can we do?

We
can do a lot. We need to try our best to show that we are not going to sit on
the sidelines and let them get away with this. First, let’s remind ourselves,
and then, remind our Congress who we are:

We
are a non-partisan coalition of patriotic, experienced, national security
experts from the intelligence and law enforcement community. Please go to our
website again and check our members’ bios. How sad is it that our agencies and
our Congress have chosen to fight and/or erase us, instead of having our
country and its national security benefit from the tremendous amount of insight
and expertise we possess. People, the average years of experience of our
members is 20 years; there are 58 of us, totaling over a THOUSAND years of
experience combined. Are we going to accept defeat? Are we going to make it so
very easy for them to continue to ignore us and what we have been through? Are
we going to say ‘it is all futile, we keep running into this brick wall, so we
may as well go away defeated’?

I
don’t think so. I think the unprecedented number of national security
whistleblowers who have come forward within the past four years, since 9/11,
makes it much more difficult for them to deny our issues/cases, and to ignore
the need for Congress to act. I believe our effort as a united front, rather
than one case here and another one there over a period of time, makes them
hesitate to arrogantly and belligerently push our issues to the side. I have
faith in our members’ resolve and determination to fight this all the way,
until our legislators enact whistleblower protection bills that actually have
teeth.

So,
enough said; let’s take action. This is what we are proposing for our next
action alert, starting tomorrow at noon:

1-Draft a letter addressed to members of the
press. Put it in your own words; carefully articulate the consequences of not
having a meaningful WPA for NS whistleblowers (consequences for our national
security; the issue of accountability; the importance of whistleblowers to
congressional oversight ;…)

6-Send a fax to Tom Davis at (202) 225- 3971 , and
call Jim Moore afterwards if you can at (202) 225-5074

Here
is a list of points to use in your letter:

The
defects in HR1317 (HR3097) are quite serious, and the bill actually reduces
protection for whistleblowers. This bill exempts National Security
Whistleblowers (NSA, CIA, DIA, FBI…).

Also,
HR1317 (HR3097) does not:

•Protect
disclosure to members of Congress concerning agency waste, fraud, abuse, or
actions that endanger citizens and the national security, even when the
disclosure is to members of committees having primary responsibility for
oversight of the agency involved in the disclosure.

•Define
retaliation against national security whistleblowers through suspension or
revocation of security clearances as a prohibited personnel action.A most popular method by administrators and
agencies of “handling” national security whistleblowers is to revoke or suspend
their clearances, which in effect is a termination of their employment.

•Contain
a process of review for revocation or suspension of security clearances in
retaliation for whistleblowing.The
process of revocation and suspension of clearances is arcane, unaccountable,
and largely carried out by a small group of security officers.Where adverse security clearance decisions are
made in retaliation for the lawful reporting of malfeasance, some mechanism of
accountability should be available to the whistleblower.

•Contain
a provision authorizing whistleblowers to appeal their cases to any federal
court of appeals of competent jurisdiction.One of the chief problems with the Whistleblower Protection Act, and one
that has been recognized in Congress on numerous occasions, is the failure of
the Federal Circuit, which at present has exclusive jurisdiction over
whistleblower appeals, to abide by the express desires of Congress in reviewing
cases involving retaliation against whistleblowers.

Here
is what we demand:

Whistleblower
Rights for Employees of Intelligence Agencies and Federal Contractors - The amendment would apply
federal whistleblower rights to employees of intelligence agencies and to
federal contractors.

Classified
Disclosures to Congress - The amendment would clarify that classified information
may be disclosed to a member of Congress or congressional staff as long as that
person is authorized to receive such information.

Security
Clearances - The amendment would authorize the MSPB to review cases charging
retaliation when an employee's security clearance is revoked and if the MSPB
finds retaliation, to reinstate the security clearance.

All
Circuit Review - The amendment would allow the Federal Circuit or any other
Federal circuit court to hear whistleblower cases, ending the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit's exclusive jurisdiction over whistleblower
appeals. This provision would sunset after a period of five years.

Okay NSWBC members, let’s go get them; we are
counting on every single one of you.